reticle init installs a hook that hands over each prompt before the agent reads it.
What init installs
reticle init adds a prompt-submit hook to the project-level config of each agent it finds that has one:
Each hook runs
npx -y @reticlehq/server@<version> hook prompt --agent <id>. The version is pinned to the one that ran init. Run init or reticle hook install again after an upgrade to move the pin. These files are in your repository, so a teammate who commits them shares the hook. Codex runs a project hook only after you trust the project’s .codex/ folder.
Agents with no prompt hook, such as Claude Desktop, get an instruction in the MCP server’s instructions: declare the request with reticle_intent once for each user request.
What it writes
The hook writes two files in the project’s.reticle/ folder:
Secrets are removed before anything is written: credential assignments (
password: …, STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=…), vendor keys (sk_live_…, ghp_…, AKIA…, AIza…, glpat-…, xoxb-…), JWTs, emails, card numbers, phone numbers, home paths and hostnames. This is a pattern match, not a proof: a secret that looks like an ordinary word stays. A prompt is capped at 20,000 characters.
All three files are in .reticle/.gitignore. Reticle adds them to an older ignore file that does not have them, and keeps every line you wrote.
The hook makes no network call of its own and never blocks a prompt: a failure is exit 0 and nothing written. npx downloads the pinned version once when its cache does not have it. Nothing about a prompt reaches telemetry.
What leaves the machine
Requests are shared by default for a linked project. A project is linked byreticle connect (.reticle/cloud.json) or by RETICLE_API_KEY in the environment. A run written soon after a prompt carries that prompt, and the run goes to your own workspace when it syncs. The Harness also sends the newest request to the platform planner as a goal. An unlinked project sends the request nowhere.
To keep requests on the machine, set "shareRequests": false in .reticle.json. Capture goes on, and nothing about a request leaves: not with a run, and not to the Harness.
A run syncs through reticle sync, through the daemon’s background sync, or when reticle verify closes in CI. Background sync runs only for a project linked by its own cloud.json, and only while somebody is signed in to that address or RETICLE_API_KEY is the key for that link.
Turn it off
reticle hook
hook install writes a config only for an agent this project already uses (its folder is in the project, or the Claude Code CLI is on this machine). hook prompt --agent <id> is what the agent’s hook runs; you do not run it yourself. reticle doctor prints the same rows as hook status, and whether background sync is on.